Rutgers lawyer resigns as board looks at issues

Thursday, April 11, 2013

NEW BRUNSWICK (AP) — A Rutgers University lawyer resigned Thursday amid growing anger that he was still employed after approving a decision in December to suspend rather than fire basketball coach Mike Rice, even though he was aware of a video showing the coach hitting, kicking and taunting players.

Meanwhile, the school’s Board of Governors plans to discuss hiring an adviser to report on Rice’s behavior and how the university handled it.

The university last week announced that John Wolf, who had been serving in an interim basis as the university’s top in-house lawyer, had resigned from his leadership position. School officials at first would not clarify what that meant, but then this week acknowledged that he was remaining at Rutgers as a lower-level lawyer.

Some state lawmakers felt they’d been deceived and were calling for his resignation in the latest development in a scandal that broke last week when a video was made public showing Rice shoving and kicking players and using gay slurs as he yelled at them during practices.

Rice was suspended, fined and ordered to anger management counseling in December after school officials were first given the video by a former basketball program employee.

Since the footage became public, Rice was fired, an assistant coach resigned and so did Tim Pernetti, the school’s popular 42-year-old athletic director. Pernetti, who was named last month as one of five finalists for the Sports Business Journal’s athletic director of the year award, said in his letter of resignation that his first instinct last November was to fire Rice. But it’s not clear if he made that recommendation to anyone else.

Who knew about Rice’s behavior earlier and what they did about it has become the focus of fallout.

Also, lawmakers are planning hearings of their own to address some of the same questions.

Despite some calls for his job, Rutgers President Robert Barchi has received public support from Gov. Chris Christie and the chairman of the board of governors.

Barchi and Wolf jointly announced the lawyer’s resignation on Thursday, saying “it is in the best interests of the university that Mr. Wolf resign from the university effective immediately.”

He has agreed to work with a new general counsel on the transition during a tense time at the university. It’s absorbing two medical schools effective July 1.

Wolf had worked at Rutgers since 1984.

“While I regret the circumstances surrounding my departure from Rutgers, I always will have very fond memories of the challenges and achievements that I have been a part of and the many colleagues and friends,” he said in a statement.